New national No. 1 Buchanan advances in section baseball playoffs

Buchanan High is two wins from adding more bling to its baseball stadium.

Hunter Reinke grinded through five innings while improving to 11-0, and the Bears – a few days after being anointed No. 1 nationally in USA Today’s Super 25 Computer Rankings – pounded six extra-base hits in a 9-1 home win over Liberty-Bakersfield on Thursday night in a quarterfinal of the Central Section Division I playoffs.

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That’s a mythical crown, of course, because there aren’t actual national playoffs.

But it’s a lifetime memory nonetheless, and the 28-1 and top-seeded Bears are 14 innings short of another in a season that also has them ranked No. 2 in CBS MaxPreps Xcellent 25 national rankings.

Those promise to be 14 competitive innings, should they have the opportunity to play them all.

Tuesday’s 4:30 p.m. semifinal at home against Bullard will come three months after Buchanan dominated the Knights 9-1 in the Coca Cola Classic. The Knights are 20-5 since.

Next up is fourth-seeded Bullard (21-8), the County/Metro Athletic Conference champion, which rode Jacob Pizzo’s 11th win of the season and 27th of a four-year varsity career in a 4-2 decision over No. 5 Stockdale.

The 4:30 p.m. semifinal at home against the Knights will come three months after Buchanan dominated them 9-1 in the Coca Cola Classic. But Bullard has gone 20-5 since.

The Knights will oppose Oregon State-commit Grant Gambrell (10-0, 0.59 ERA), who beat them the first time.

Get by that and the Bears will find Tuesday’s Clovis-Clovis North winner in a third-straight all-TRAC D-I final May 31 at 7:30 p.m. at Visalia’s Rawhide Ballpark.

TRAC members Buchanan, Clovis and Clovis North have won the past three D-I titles since Bullard hung the plaque in 2012 with a 6-2 win over Clovis.

Liberty (17-13) arrived Thursday in a mismatch, having finished 6-9 and in fourth in the Southwest Yosemite League.

The Patriots could merely watch in awe a Bearish opponent stacked with six major-college commits.

Got myself in a couple jams, but I got myself out of them pretty well, also.

Buchanan’s Hunter Reinke, a pitcher committed to Oregon

Reinke, a junior right-hander pledged to Oregon of the Pacific-12 Conference, threw 83 pitches in five innings. But he repeatedly worked out of trouble – a season modus operandi – while giving up three hits and the one run.

“Got myself in a couple jams,” the 6-foot-3, 190-pounder said, “but I got myself out of them pretty well, also.”

In addition, shortstop O’Guinn – only a junior, yet another Bulldogs commit – third baseman Selma and second baseman J.T. Arruda – yes, another bound for Cedar and Shaw – were typically exceptional on defense.